Quantification and assessment of methane emissions from offshore oil and gas facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf
The oil and gas (O&G) sector is a significant source of methane (CH4) emissions. Quantifying these emissions remains challenging, with many studies highlighting discrepancies between measurements and inventory-based estimates. In this study, we present CH4 emission fluxes from 21 offshore O&...
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European Geosciences Union
2022
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Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/532529/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/532529/1/acp-22-4303-2022.pdf https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/22/4303/2022/ |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:532529 2023-05-15T17:47:08+02:00 Quantification and assessment of methane emissions from offshore oil and gas facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf Foulds, Amy Allen, Grant Shaw, Jacob T. Bateson, Prudence Barker, Patrick A. Huang, Langwen Pitt, Joseph R. Lee, James D. Wilde, Shona E. Dominutti, Pamela Purvis, Ruth M. Lowry, David France, James L. Fisher, Rebecca E. Fiehn, Alina Pühl, Magdalena Bauguitte, Stéphane J. B. Conley, Stephen A. Smith, Mackenzie L. Lachlan-Cope, Tom Pisso, Ignacio Schwietzke, Stefan 2022-04-04 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/532529/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/532529/1/acp-22-4303-2022.pdf https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/22/4303/2022/ en eng European Geosciences Union https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/532529/1/acp-22-4303-2022.pdf Foulds, Amy; Allen, Grant; Shaw, Jacob T.; Bateson, Prudence; Barker, Patrick A.; Huang, Langwen; Pitt, Joseph R.; Lee, James D.; Wilde, Shona E.; Dominutti, Pamela; Purvis, Ruth M.; Lowry, David; France, James L.; Fisher, Rebecca E.; Fiehn, Alina; Pühl, Magdalena; Bauguitte, Stéphane J. B.; Conley, Stephen A.; Smith, Mackenzie L.; Lachlan-Cope, Tom orcid:0000-0002-0657-3235 Pisso, Ignacio; Schwietzke, Stefan. 2022 Quantification and assessment of methane emissions from offshore oil and gas facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 22 (7). 4303-4322. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4303-2022 <https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4303-2022> cc_by_4 CC-BY Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2022 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4303-2022 2023-02-04T19:53:14Z The oil and gas (O&G) sector is a significant source of methane (CH4) emissions. Quantifying these emissions remains challenging, with many studies highlighting discrepancies between measurements and inventory-based estimates. In this study, we present CH4 emission fluxes from 21 offshore O&G facilities collected in 10 O&G fields over two regions of the Norwegian continental shelf in 2019. Emissions of CH4 derived from measurements during 13 aircraft surveys were found to range from 2.6 to 1200 t yr−1 (with a mean of 211 t yr−1 across all 21 facilities). Comparing this with aggregated operator-reported facility emissions for 2019, we found excellent agreement (within 1σ uncertainty), with mean aircraft-measured fluxes only 16 % lower than those reported by operators. We also compared aircraft-derived fluxes with facility fluxes extracted from a global gridded fossil fuel CH4 emission inventory compiled for 2016. We found that the measured emissions were 42 % larger than the inventory for the area covered by this study, for the 21 facilities surveyed (in aggregate). We interpret this large discrepancy not to reflect a systematic error in the operator-reported emissions, which agree with measurements, but rather the representativity of the global inventory due to the methodology used to construct it and the fact that the inventory was compiled for 2016 (and thus not representative of emissions in 2019). This highlights the need for timely and up-to-date inventories for use in research and policy. The variable nature of CH4 emissions from individual facilities requires knowledge of facility operational status during measurements for data to be useful in prioritising targeted emission mitigation solutions. Future surveys of individual facilities would benefit from knowledge of facility operational status over time. Field-specific aggregated emissions (and uncertainty statistics), as presented here for the Norwegian Sea, can be meaningfully estimated from intensive aircraft surveys. However, ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Norwegian Sea Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Norwegian Sea Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 22 7 4303 4322 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
The oil and gas (O&G) sector is a significant source of methane (CH4) emissions. Quantifying these emissions remains challenging, with many studies highlighting discrepancies between measurements and inventory-based estimates. In this study, we present CH4 emission fluxes from 21 offshore O&G facilities collected in 10 O&G fields over two regions of the Norwegian continental shelf in 2019. Emissions of CH4 derived from measurements during 13 aircraft surveys were found to range from 2.6 to 1200 t yr−1 (with a mean of 211 t yr−1 across all 21 facilities). Comparing this with aggregated operator-reported facility emissions for 2019, we found excellent agreement (within 1σ uncertainty), with mean aircraft-measured fluxes only 16 % lower than those reported by operators. We also compared aircraft-derived fluxes with facility fluxes extracted from a global gridded fossil fuel CH4 emission inventory compiled for 2016. We found that the measured emissions were 42 % larger than the inventory for the area covered by this study, for the 21 facilities surveyed (in aggregate). We interpret this large discrepancy not to reflect a systematic error in the operator-reported emissions, which agree with measurements, but rather the representativity of the global inventory due to the methodology used to construct it and the fact that the inventory was compiled for 2016 (and thus not representative of emissions in 2019). This highlights the need for timely and up-to-date inventories for use in research and policy. The variable nature of CH4 emissions from individual facilities requires knowledge of facility operational status during measurements for data to be useful in prioritising targeted emission mitigation solutions. Future surveys of individual facilities would benefit from knowledge of facility operational status over time. Field-specific aggregated emissions (and uncertainty statistics), as presented here for the Norwegian Sea, can be meaningfully estimated from intensive aircraft surveys. However, ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Foulds, Amy Allen, Grant Shaw, Jacob T. Bateson, Prudence Barker, Patrick A. Huang, Langwen Pitt, Joseph R. Lee, James D. Wilde, Shona E. Dominutti, Pamela Purvis, Ruth M. Lowry, David France, James L. Fisher, Rebecca E. Fiehn, Alina Pühl, Magdalena Bauguitte, Stéphane J. B. Conley, Stephen A. Smith, Mackenzie L. Lachlan-Cope, Tom Pisso, Ignacio Schwietzke, Stefan |
spellingShingle |
Foulds, Amy Allen, Grant Shaw, Jacob T. Bateson, Prudence Barker, Patrick A. Huang, Langwen Pitt, Joseph R. Lee, James D. Wilde, Shona E. Dominutti, Pamela Purvis, Ruth M. Lowry, David France, James L. Fisher, Rebecca E. Fiehn, Alina Pühl, Magdalena Bauguitte, Stéphane J. B. Conley, Stephen A. Smith, Mackenzie L. Lachlan-Cope, Tom Pisso, Ignacio Schwietzke, Stefan Quantification and assessment of methane emissions from offshore oil and gas facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf |
author_facet |
Foulds, Amy Allen, Grant Shaw, Jacob T. Bateson, Prudence Barker, Patrick A. Huang, Langwen Pitt, Joseph R. Lee, James D. Wilde, Shona E. Dominutti, Pamela Purvis, Ruth M. Lowry, David France, James L. Fisher, Rebecca E. Fiehn, Alina Pühl, Magdalena Bauguitte, Stéphane J. B. Conley, Stephen A. Smith, Mackenzie L. Lachlan-Cope, Tom Pisso, Ignacio Schwietzke, Stefan |
author_sort |
Foulds, Amy |
title |
Quantification and assessment of methane emissions from offshore oil and gas facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf |
title_short |
Quantification and assessment of methane emissions from offshore oil and gas facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf |
title_full |
Quantification and assessment of methane emissions from offshore oil and gas facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf |
title_fullStr |
Quantification and assessment of methane emissions from offshore oil and gas facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf |
title_full_unstemmed |
Quantification and assessment of methane emissions from offshore oil and gas facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf |
title_sort |
quantification and assessment of methane emissions from offshore oil and gas facilities on the norwegian continental shelf |
publisher |
European Geosciences Union |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/532529/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/532529/1/acp-22-4303-2022.pdf https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/22/4303/2022/ |
geographic |
Norwegian Sea |
geographic_facet |
Norwegian Sea |
genre |
Norwegian Sea |
genre_facet |
Norwegian Sea |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/532529/1/acp-22-4303-2022.pdf Foulds, Amy; Allen, Grant; Shaw, Jacob T.; Bateson, Prudence; Barker, Patrick A.; Huang, Langwen; Pitt, Joseph R.; Lee, James D.; Wilde, Shona E.; Dominutti, Pamela; Purvis, Ruth M.; Lowry, David; France, James L.; Fisher, Rebecca E.; Fiehn, Alina; Pühl, Magdalena; Bauguitte, Stéphane J. B.; Conley, Stephen A.; Smith, Mackenzie L.; Lachlan-Cope, Tom orcid:0000-0002-0657-3235 Pisso, Ignacio; Schwietzke, Stefan. 2022 Quantification and assessment of methane emissions from offshore oil and gas facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 22 (7). 4303-4322. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4303-2022 <https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4303-2022> |
op_rights |
cc_by_4 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4303-2022 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
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22 |
container_issue |
7 |
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